The Vanished
by Faulty Cameras
Summary: The officers continued talking to them but Seth stopped paying attention. His mind was only focusing on one thing that was said. She was gone.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

A/N- Yet again, I am starting another story. Well, this is a lot different then my other ones. This first chapter is kind of short but the next chapters will be longer. Feedback would be awesome because I would like to know what people think and if they think that its worth continuing or not. Thanks to Meg for editing this and my cousin Joseph for coming up with the title.

* * *

Darkness fell over her eyes. She tried to scream but no sound came out. A cloth covered her mouth and nose.

She tried to kick and fight whoever had a hold of her. She felt herself growing weaker, losing her ability to breathe. She didn't know how much longer she could fight it.

She gave one last ditch attempt to wrangle herself free, then gave up. A blindfold was placed over her eyes. She slowly felt like she was falling, falling away from everything.

* * *

Seth gave himself a once over before he left his bedroom. He wanted to look nice for his date with Summer that night. They had just recently gotten back together. Things were almost okay. They were graduating in a week and a half and then they had the whole summer to spend together before she went off to Brown.

The most important thing that he knew at that moment: he was not going to screw things up. He and Summer were in a good place, for the time being at least. There was no telling when something was going to go wrong again. He was just going to try and make sure that he wasn't going to cause any problems.

He ran down the stairs, pounding on each one out of excitement. He had big plans for this date. They never did big dates or anything but he felt that their reunion was a big enough deal to get a special important date (so it was slightly late, considering they had been back together since prom which had been two weeks ago, but he knew it was the thought that counts).

"Mom is it all right if I take your car?" he asked, grabbing the keys without really waiting for an answer.

"Go ahead sweetheart," she replied. "Taking Summer out?"

Seth grinned. "Yea, I have something big planned for us tonight."

"That's nice. Don't be out too late and have a good time."

"Bye Mom," Seth said as he ran from the house.

He got in the car and started to drive to Summer's house. He hummed along with the music that was playing, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. He was so excited to take Summer out. They were going to have such a great time.

When Seth got to her house all excitement left him. The driveway was filled with police cars. His heart started beating faster and faster. He didn't know why they were there.

He ran out of the car, barely taking the time to stop it. He crossed the police tape that had been put up despite the cries from the officer. He ran into the family room, where Julie Cooper was lying, ice being held to her head. Summer's father, Dr. Roberts, was in the room, pacing back and forth, while Marissa was sitting on the chair, her face pale and worried.

"What's going on?" Seth asked. Where was Summer. He didn't see her anywhere. Maybe she was in her room.

Before anyone could respond to him, two police officers came into the room. "Good evening everyone. I'm Officer Wolf and this is Officer Hans. We have a few questions for you," he pointed to Julie.

Julie nodded her head. The officers took a step closer to her. "What exactly do you remember that happened?"

"I-I was sitting in here, reading the magazine that had come in the mail today. Someone came inside and I thought that it was Marissa, since she was due home from school. I called out and," Julie's voice started to crack, but she continued, her voice shaking slightly "and a man came in here. He grabbed a hold of me and asked me where Summer was. I tried to scream out but he held onto me and started to-he started to threaten me. When I wouldn't tell him where Summer was, he hit me with something that was in his hand and then knocked me out. When I woke up, my daughter Marissa was standing over me, screaming hysterically, saying that Summer was gone."

"And Summer is whose daughter?" Officer Wolf asked.

"She's mine," Dr. Roberts stepped over to them. "Dr. Neil Roberts."

The officers had more to say to Dr. Roberts, but Seth stopped paying attention. One phrase played over and over in his head. Summer was gone.

* * *

Summer woke up to a dark room. Her whole body was aching, especially her head, and her mouth was dry.

She tried to sit up, to try and figure out where she was. She did and still couldn't see much of anything in the dark light. She could make out a window, but there was no moonlight shining through or any sort of outside light.

"Hello?" she asked, her voice hoarse. "Is anyone here?"

She received no response. She didn't know what was going on. She was so lost and confused.

She curled up in a tight ball, once more calling out into the darkness. Again she received no response. She felt the tears fall from her eyes.

She was alone.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize, I don't own.

A/N-Sorry this chapter took so long to post. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter and to Meg for editing.

* * *

Seth lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. He felt hollow inside, he couldn't feel anything.

Summer had been gone for a week and a half. They didn't have any leads. There were no traces of what had happened to her, save for the mess that had accumulated in her room from when she was taken.

A soft knock came on his door, Kirsten and Sandy entering into the room. He didn't look at them. He continued staring at the ceiling.

"Seth, sweetie, it's time to go."

He didn't respond. He noticed a large spot on his ceiling instead.

"Come on Seth. It's your graduation from high school."

He wondered how long the spot had been there. He wished he paid more attention to detail now.

"We know that this is really difficult for you. We think that it might be a good idea for you to get out though, see your friends. Graduate with them."

Maybe if he had paid more attention to detail this never would have happened. Summer would still be here, they would be getting ready to graduate together. Maybe he would have noticed if there was someone following them. He had no useful information for the police; he had never felt more useless before in his life.

Sandy and Kirsten finally realized that he wasn't going to respond to them. Before leaving the room, Kirsten leaned down and kissed Seth on the forehead. Up close, she could see the pain in his eyes. She wished she could change this, she wished he wasn't hurting so much.

They left him in silence to continue staring at the large spot on the ceiling. He didn't think about anything anymore, but that spot. It made him feel better to not think, to not imagine what was happening to Summer. The pain of thinking that made everything so much worse.

He heard footsteps come into the room once again and without even looking he knew that it was Ryan. He should have known that they would send him in, to try to get him to talk.

"Seth. You can't miss your high school graduation."

"Why not? It's not like I have many fond memories there," Seth said, the hollowness he was feeling on the inside reflected in his voice. It almost didn't sound like his own.

Ryan sighed. This wasn't going to be easy. "Your parents want to see you graduate. They deserve this too."

"There's a lot of things that people deserve," he mumbled.

"Listen Seth. I know you don't want to do this without Summer, but she wouldn't want you to miss this time in your life. You know that. If she couldn't be there, you know that she would want you to be there."

Seth didn't respond, but he knew Ryan was right. Summer wanted them to have that special moment together. He didn't want to do it without her. He wanted to go through with it. It was just so difficult to do without her.

"Just think about it for a little while Seth. We're leaving in a half hour." Ryan stood up, leaving the room.

Seth continued to look up at the ceiling, at the large spot. He knew what he was going to do. Going through with his graduation without her still left him feeling hollow.

* * *

Summer blinked at the sunlight streaming in through the tiny window. She wondered what time it was. She never knew anymore, only knowing the difference between night and day.

She looked at the dried blood on her arm. She was sure that there was more, she was probably covered in dirt.

She didn't know how long she had been in this small room. She had tried counting the amount of times that the sun went up and came down, but she couldn't.

Half the time she spent with her eyes closed. She wasn't always sleeping but she found it to be safer with her eyes closed.

There was a man who came to give her food and water twice a day. It wasn't a lot of food, but it was enough to keep her alive.

She hadn't actually seen the man. One time she had started to open her eyes when he came in but when he saw her trying to see her face, he kicked her. Hard. She had learned in the time since then. Now, whenever she heard the footsteps coming, she closed her eyes tight.

She had spent so much time crying. She was almost positive that she didn't have any tears left to cry, yet some still came out of her eyes every night.

Every night she thought of Seth. She wondered what he was doing. She thought of everyone else. She wondered if they missed her. She wondered if they were searching everywhere for her, day and night.

She dreaded the thought that they didn't care at all. She hoped that they cared. She had been hoping that they cared so much that they would just appear to rescue her. Even Seth, despite the fact that he was more likely to end up on the ground if he tried to fight whoever was responsible for this.

No one had come for her yet. She hoped that this meant that they were looking for her. She hoped that it didn't mean that they already were over her missing and that no one cared.

She hoped more than anything that Seth hadn't moved on already. She felt that she never told him enough how much she loved him. She wished that she had said it more, showed him more, that she had been a better girlfriend to him. What if he didn't think anything of her missing?

She felt her breathing become ragged, tears coming to her eyes again. She swiped at them, but they kept coming. They mixed with the blood, dirt, and dried tears that were already on her face.

She heard footsteps approaching the door. She laid down on the bare dirty floor, wrapping her arms around herself, shutting her eyes tightly.

* * *

Seth picked a spot on the ground to watch. He didn't want to look at anyone, he didn't want to see the sympathetic glances that were being given.

He felt Marissa shift next to him, then her hand grabbed his own. He looked at her, noticed the tears glistening in her eyes.

He turned away from her, freeing his hand. He watched his spot again. There was a bug. A tiny little bug.

He focused on something new. He looked up at the stage where Taylor was standing, giving her valedictorian speech. It was basically in another language, Latin, he believed. It was nice to hear this. He didn't really know why.

Taylor stepped down several minutes later (finishing her speech with some English, which he didn't like as much). There was a pause after the applause and Seth wondered what was going on. He would think that graduation would be more organized.

Marissa stood up next to him. He watched as she walked to the stage, wondering what she was doing. He watched in confusion as she walked to the podium.

"As many of you know, ten days ago, one of our classmates, Summer Roberts, was kidnapped from her home. We have all been greatly affected by this event, shattering many of us. She was-is-a very beloved classmate of us all. We all know that she would have wanted to be here more than anything. Graduating was something that was important to her."

Seth watched as Marissa started to break down again. He felt his anger rise a little at Marissa's tears. It felt fake to him. Marissa hadn't been there much for Summer in the past year. She had barely been in her life, more concerned with her own problems. She hadn't been there when Summer had found things of her moms, causing her to cry. She hadn't been there when she had a fight with her dad. She hadn't been there all the times she needed someone.

That had been Seth. Seth was the one who was always there for Summer, not Marissa. He didn't even know why they were talking about Summer anyways. It was almost like they were giving her some sort of eulogy.

"We all knew and loved Summer. She was someone who everyone got along with, someone who no one didn't like. She was an amazing friend. Today, we would like to please make sure that if anyone knows any information about what has happened to Summer Roberts, please come to the police immediately." She paused. "Also, today we would like to present her father Dr. Neil Roberts, with her diploma. We want to make sure that this is something that they have in their family."

Dr. Roberts came up to the stage, a tight smile on his face. He didn't portray any sort of emotion. It was almost like he didn't care that his only daughter was missing.

Seth rose from her seat as everyone started to clap, misty eyed from the heartfelt words that were given. He didn't want to be there anymore.

He left, walking far enough away from them all. He leaned against a lone tree, hating the fact that there were tears in his eyes. God. He missed Summer. He wanted her here. He needed her.

He was going to find her. He was going to find out what had happened to her and he was going to bring her back where she belonged.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of The OC.

A/N-Sorry this story keeps taking me so long to update. And I'm just going to apologize in advance for the way this ends, because I have a feeling that people are we going to hate me when they read the end. Okay, thanks to everyone who reviewed, and Meg for editing.

* * *

Seth stood in front of the Roberts's house, contemplating his next move. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go inside and see all of them. He wanted to go up to Summer's room though. He needed to, if he was going to find her.

He wasn't exactly going to climb up to the second floor, so he was going to have to go to the front door. He walked slowly towards the large front door, ringing the doorbell. Several minutes later, Julie Cooper opened the door.

"Hi Seth," she said. "Any particular reason that you're here?"

"Ca-can I go up to Summer's room?" he asked quietly.

She bit her lip hesitantly. "I don't know if Neil really wants anyone up there. Or if anyone is actually allowed up there."

"He doesn't have to know does he?" Seth questioned.

"Go ahead. He's in his office on the phone and should be for a while now."

Seth nodded his head, walking past her. He walked the familiar route up the stairs to her room. It was weird to be walking to her room and knowing that she wasn't inside waiting for him.

He opened the door slowly and saw the dreaded yellow police tape that was across the door frame. He ducked under it, feeling slightly nauseous as he looked at the mess that had been created in her room.

The sheets and comforter on her bed were torn off it, twisted in such a strange manner. He wondered if maybe she had been sitting on her bed, waiting for him to pick her up. He looked at the fallen picture frames from the one wall and wondered if she had been pushed against the wall. Other objects were strewn across the room, showing the obvious fact that Summer had not allowed herself to be taken without a fight.

He walked slowly around the room, taking note of the things in the room. He wondered if maybe there had been something the police had missed, something that would clue him into what had happened.

He got on his hands and knees, knowing that if Dr. Roberts were to see him in here, he would be dead. He didn't care, he needed to continue searching.

He stopped when he spotted a pile of papers underneath her desk. She was usually such a neat freak about papers being on the ground that this was unusual. He went over and looked at them. He gave a frustrated sigh when he realized that they were nothing more than an old essay for school and a business card for Dr. Roberts. They must have fallen off of her desk at some point, she must have hit it when trying to fight whoever had taken her off.

He realized exactly what the police had realized a week before-there was nothing here. There was nothing there to help them. Nothing at all.

He ducked back underneath the police tape and started to walk away. He was going to leave right away-that was, until he reached the bottom of the staircase and Dr. Roberts was standing there.

Seth gulped. Luckily, his back was facing the stairs and he walked away before even noticing someone's presence. Seth breathed a sigh of relief, then slipped quietly out of the house, as if he had never been there in the first place

* * *

Summer was sitting on the cold floor, looking at the outfit that she was wearing. It was a summery dress, one that Seth had said he loved on her. That was the reason she had picked it the other night.

It was ruined now. It was covered in mud and blood. Seth was never going to get to see it on her again.

She wondered what she would be doing at that moment if she had successfully gone out on the date that night. She would probably be with Seth, spending every waking moment with him until she had to leave for Brown.

She wished that was where she was at that moment.

She heard footsteps approaching the door. She closed her eyes and hoped that he would just place the plate of food and go.

That was when she noticed that these footsteps were different. They were more frantic than what they usually were. She almost opened her eyes to see what was going on but then remembered that it was best to keep them closed.

"Get up." A gruff voice rang in her ears.

She didn't move. To get up she would have to open her eyes. She didn't want to open her eyes, didn't want to see the man that was standing in front of her.

"I said get up!"

She opened her eyes and scrambled to her feet. Before she could even catch a glimpse of who was standing in front of her, a blindfold was wrapped around her eyes. The person jerked her forward, practically dragging her behind him. She was starting to feel panicked. She knew that they were obviously taking her somewhere. Her heart started quickly in her chest.

She wondered if they were taking her to a place where they were going to kill her.

She suddenly wished that she could go back. Go back in time, go back to fix everything that she had ever done wrong, go back to fix anything that had gone wrong. She would go and find a way for her mom to stay. She would fix Marissa and all of her problems. She would go back and never be mean to Seth, she would go and start their relationship earlier.

She felt her feet hit dirt. She heard the sounds of the night surrounding her. She felt heavy rain drops hitting her face. She wondered if this was going to be the last time she experienced any of this.

* * *

Seth sat with his head in his hands. It had been twelve days since she had gone missing. It had been two days since he started his attempts to find her.

He had nothing.

He had never felt more horrible. He felt like he was failing Summer more than anyone.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see his father standing next to his bed. Sandy looked at his son, unable to keep the sadness off of his face.

"Seth," Sandy said softly. "Seth there's something we have to talk about."

"What? Is it something about Summer?"

"They-they, um." Sandy Cohen was stuttering. He never did this, not once in his life had Seth seen him talk like this.

"Dad? What is it?" His voice was frantic, he needed to know.

"They found a body, Seth. An unidentified female's body."

With those words ringing in his ears, he felt his whole world start to crash.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that is recognizable.

A/N-I really need to start updating this more frequently, especially when I kind of leave you all hanging…Sorry about that. Thanks to the reviewers and to Meg for editing for me!

* * *

Hands shaking, Seth opened his bedroom door. He hadn't opened the door in the past 24 hours but the urgency of the knocking made him realize whoever it was at his door wasn't going away.

It was his father standing outside his room, a solemn look on his face. Seth gulped, his mind immediately jumping to the worse.

"Seth…it wasn't her body."

Seth looked at his father, wondering if he was telling him the truth. He had to be. He wouldn't say something like this to him.

"They identified the body. It was girl named Autumn Cabot."

Seth tuned out his father after that. She was alive. Somewhere Summer was still alive. She wasn't dead. She was alive. He had never been so thankful at that moment.

At the same time he felt horrible. Another girl was dead. There were family and friends of this girl who were mourning the death of their daughter, sister, friend.

He couldn't stop himself from being thankful for the fact that she was still out there-hopefully. He had to remind himself that there was a chance she could be dead, her body not yet found.

He shook those thoughts out of his head. He didn't want to think like that. He wanted to think that she was still alive. He needed her to still be alive.

* * *

Summer hurt everywhere on her body. Every single part of her was aching but she was still alive.

At that moment, she wished she was dead.

She rolled over on the floor to her other side. It hurt just as much as being in that position. She wanted to cry but she was afraid to make any noise.

Last night had been one of the worse nights of her life. She had spent the majority of the evening in the backseat of a car, blindfolded, unable to know where she was going. She had been so confused.

Finally they had apparently arrived at a new location. They had taken the blindfold off of her and she had looked at where they were. She had driven past this location so many times, she knew she wasn't all that far from Newport.

Somehow, she then got the idea to try and run for it. They didn't have her under any constraints and she thought she could somehow outrun them. She had been so wrong.

The tears spilled from her eyes as she thought about what they had done to her. She didn't want to think about it anymore.

She didn't want to think about anything anymore. She didn't want to wonder what she could be doing if she was with her friends.

She just wanted all of this pain to go away.

* * *

Seth paced in his room. He noticed that he had started pacing a lot in the last few weeks.

He had found something. What he considered to be a big something. It could be something so small to everyone else.

He had gone back to Summer's room again after hearing she was still alive. He knew something had to have been there.

He had once again been drawn to the business card underneath her desk. He had picked it up and flipped it over and was surprised to see some numbers written on the back. Summer wouldn't have had that in her room. He knew that there would be no point.

He had went and asked Dr. Roberts if he knew anything. He had hoped he would have gotten some sort of answer because he desperately needed to know.

Dr. Roberts took the business card from him without a second glance at Seth. He said that it was his and he had dropped it one night while he had been in the room.

Seth didn't believe him though. He had immediately gone to his office-where he apparently didn't leave anymore-and Seth was almost positive he was on the phone.

Seth didn't know why Dr. Roberts had such concern about this business card if it was really what he said it was. He started to wish he wouldn't have shown the car to him. He would have called the number and maybe it would have given him more insight into the whole situation.

He needed to get that card back.

* * *

Seth walked into the Roberts house, not bothering to knock anymore. Julie had told him it was fine to just come inside the house, as he had been doing that so many days in the past week.

He had planned his visit this time. He knew Marissa wasn't there as she and Ryan seemed to have started something once again and were spending plenty of time together. He also knew that Dr. Roberts was at work, therefore not going to be anywhere near his office until the late afternoon. Julie was the only person he needed to worry about and somehow he found that this was not going to be a difficult job at all.

He was greeted by Julie in the front entrance. She looked like she was dressed and ready to go someplace. He definitely realized that this was about to be easier than he thought.

"Hey Seth."

"Hi. Where are you off to?"

Julie sighed. "I have to go pick up Kaitlin from the airport. She's coming home today for good. After I pick her up, she's making me go shopping, claiming she needs new clothes."

"Ah. Well, have fun. Is it all right if I stay here?"

"Of course you can." She gave him a sympathetic glance. "Stay as long as you want to."

Seth nodded his head thankfully to her. She said a quick goodbye to him and then left him alone, just what he wanted.

He waited until he was sure that she was gone from the house and wasn't coming back inside. When he was positive, he slipped into Dr. Roberts's office. He was going to find that business card.

He looked through the desk first, unable to find anything. He didn't realize it was going to be so hard to find a business card. He didn't even need to take it at all, he just needed the number.

He tried to do so carefully and not to mess anything up. He didn't want any suspicions arising about him.

He was about to give up on his search. He was about to tell himself to forget it all, that it didn't matter at all. That was when his eyes rested on the garbage can. He bent down to look through and sure enough, the business card was in there.

He pocketed the business card, realizing Dr. Roberts wouldn't notice if it was missing. He stood up, going to leave. He needed to figure out whom this number belonged to and if it had anything to do with Summer. He needed to know if it brought him one step closer to finding her.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own The OC.

A/N-All I can really say is I'm really bad at updating lately, mainly due to the fact that I procrastinate a lot. But the good news, in the two months of not updating this story, I managed to completely finish it. There's four chapters left after this and they just need to be edited, so it won't take me another two months to update this again. Thanks for the reviews and to Meg for editing!

* * *

Seth turned the business card over and over again. He looked from the front to the back, debating what to do about this stupid number.

He wasn't sure what to do. He wanted to know whose number it was, but then again, what if it was the person who had kidnapped Summer? What would happen to her if he or she knew that someone knew the number?

His curiosity was weighing down though, as he wanted to try and figure out who it was. Hands shaking, he opened up his cell phone and dialed the number.

He brought the phone to his ear, listening to it ring and ring and ring. Finally, an answering machine picked up.

"You've reach Lee and Co. If you would like to talk to Thomas Lee, please press 1..."

Seth hung up the phone without bothering to listen to any more of it. He didn't need to hear anymore. He got a name, that was all that he needed really.

He quickly wrote down the name Thomas Lee next to the number. He stared at it for several minutes, once again not knowing what to do. Sure he wanted to know who this man was and if he had any involvement with Summer but he wasn't sure what would happen if he did.

He suddenly wasn't sure anymore if he wanted to go this deep into this. He had gone so far into everything and now…now he suddenly felt afraid. Afraid of what he might find or of what might happen because of what he was going to find.

He placed the business card back down on his desk. He was going to come back to that later. He needed to clear his head now. He needed to go to a place that wasn't his house, considering that every spot in his house somehow reminded him of Summer. Not that he didn't want to be reminded of her, because he really only wanted to think of her, but the fact that he could practically feel her sitting next to him on his bed from the amount of times they had sat there together was starting to creep him out and he needed to get out.

He walked out of the house, grabbing the keys to the car on his way. He drove the car for a while, looking for a place to just stop and think.

Finally, he found a secluded spot down by the beach, just where he could sit and think. No one was there at the moment. He remembered he came there with Summer once before.

He stopped in his tracks before he fully arrived at the spot. He remembered that day when they came there. He remembered something specifically about that day, a name that Summer had mentioned. It sounded so familiar now.

He sat down on the sand, trying his hardest to remember the memory of that day.

* * *

_Seth's favorite thing to do was faceplant in the sand. Really, it was. _

"_Summmmer," he whined, spitting out a mouthful of sand. _

"_You deserved that, Cohen," she replied as she spread the blanket out. _

"_No one deserves a mouthful of sand. No one."_

"_Yes, you did. I didn't appreciate that comment." She sat down on the blanket. "Now, shut up. I'm trying to watch the stars."_

"_Pssh. Summer, in case you haven't realized, I'm kind of sort of a little drunk."_

_She rolled her eyes. "I don't care. You didn't need to say what you did to Ryan."_

"_I didn't mean it. I was just joking around."_

"_You told him we were going to the beach to have beach sex."_

_Seth tried to bury his head in her shoulder, but she shoved him away. _

"_And it didn't help that you announced it to the whole freakin party."_

"_I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I still don't think that deserved you pushing me."_

_She crossed her arms in front of her, ignoring him, and staring up into the night sky. Seth inched closer to her after a few minutes, finally resting his head on her shoulder again. She once again shoved him away. _

"_What's wrong my little Summer?" he questioned. _

"_You saying we were going to have beach sex is what's wrong."_

_Seth shook his head. Though he was a little fuzzy due to the alcohol that he had been drinking, he could still see that Summer was pissed about more than his whole beach sex comment. _

_And he had been trying to make a joke with that comment. Apparently, she found it…well not funny at all. He had thought it was funny, though he was usually alone with those thoughts._

"_There's something else. C'mon. I know that something's up."_

_She sighed, lying back on the blanket. Seth imitated her movements, grabbing her hand. She tried to pull it away from him, but he wouldn't let his grip go._

"_Stop touching me Seth."_

"_Not if you don't tell me what's wrong. Come on Summer. I know you more than anyone else. You have to know that I'm going to know there's something more going on with you."_

_She sighed, not talking, but stopped fighting to let go of his hands. They fell into silence, both staring at the stars, waiting for something to be said._

"_It's my dad," she finally said._

"_What's up with your dad?"_

"_I…there's something going on with his practice or something. I don't really know, I'm really the last person he discusses his business with. I think he might be having money problems or something. Some guy named Thomas Lee keeps calling the house. I've heard bits of their conversations and all but I don't know what it's all about. I'm…just worried that we're going to lose the house and everything, if it is money problems."_

_Seth wrapped his arm around her, this time without her resisting. "If you lose your house, you can totally come live with me, my little dim Sum."_

"_That's good to know."_

"_And we could even stay in the same room and--"_

"_Shut it, Cohen, before you get another mouthful of sand."_

"_All right. Gotcha."_

"_But thanks for the offer. Hopefully my dad will get everything worked out."_

"_I'm sure he will. He's ruthless." Seth winced. "And slightly frightening."_

_Summer sighed again. "Can we change the subject? Please?"_

"_Of course. Or we can, you know--"_

"_Don't even complete that thought Cohen."_

"_I was going to say, or we can, you know, go and get some coffee. It's getting cool out here and I'm feeling like a nice coffee right now. Or ice cream. Or really any food or liquid at all."_

_Summer rolled her eyes. "Didn't you eat enough at the party?"_

"_Uh, no. I certainly drank enough. But I didn't eat enough. Which is why we should get some food."_

_She stood up. "All right. Let's go."_

* * *

Seth stared out at the ocean waves. He couldn't believe he had remembered how Summer had been mentioning his name.

Thomas Lee knew Dr. Roberts.

He repeated this thought over and over again in his head. They were in some way associated.

He pulled his knees to his chest as he started to think of all the reasons that Dr. Roberts was associated with him. Though he didn't know for sure, this man might have a connection. He might have a connection to Summer. He might know where she is or what had happened to her.

He had to find Thomas Lee.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own The OC.

A/N-Thanks for the reviews for last chapter and thanks to Meg for editing.

* * *

Seth had come up with a plan.

It was a horrible plan, that, more likely than not, was going to get him in huge trouble.

He didn't care.

It was the only way he could think of to get Summer back to him. He couldn't think of a better way to go about this.

Of course, every good plan that involves some sort of breaking in (which his did) had to be accompanied by an accomplice of some sort.

That's where Taylor Townsend and Ryan came in.

They both had reluctantly agreed. Ryan knew that he really had no choice and Taylor got dragged along, only because she was the only other person they knew, considering Marissa was now with her father.

So, considering they were both moping about (Ryan about Marissa and Taylor about her failed marriage in France) they were the perfect candidates to help him out.

His plan had taken several weeks to figure out. He had tried to do it as fast as he could, for Summer, but he didn't come up with a good idea right away. Many of his ideas were rather ridiculous (as was this one, but it was the least ridiculous of them all). He had to do it as fast as he could, so he could make sure Summer was still alive.

"Okay, do you guys understand what's going to happen?"

Ryan rolled his eyes. "We went over it about fifty times. We know what to do."

"Are you sure? It has to go perfectly."

"Yes, Seth, we're sure," Ryan replied.

"Why are we even going through with this? It's kind of pointless, don't you think? I mean, honestly, what are we going to find out?"

"We're going to find out where Summer is."

"There's no way that you can know we'll find that anything at all. And how do we even know that…'

She stopped mid sentence. It was silent once she stopped talking. They all knew what she was going to say.

"What do we know, Taylor?" Seth questioned, his teeth clenched.

"Forget I said anything," she mumbled.

Seth was going to say something again, but Ryan jumped into the conversation before he could say anything.

"Okay, so we're going to go in there. I'm going to be the lookout and Taylor is going to distract Julie right?"

Seth nodded. "Yea. That's the plan."

"I think it might work."

"Right. Can we just go through with it? Please. We…we don't have a lot of time."

The two nodded, getting off their chairs. The three got to the car, getting ready to try to hopefully save Summer's life.

* * *

"Seth, I have a really important question."

"What?"

"If Dr. Roberts isn't home, then why the hell do we have to sneak in?" Ryan asked as they pushed through a bunch of bushes.

"Because Julie would see us." Seth stated this as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Uh-huh. You know we could have just gone through the front door with Taylor. Julie doesn't care if we roam the house. You know this."

"Shut up, Ryan. This makes it much more official."

"Yes, climbing through mounds of bushes to get to the window which I am going to have to hoist you up into is so much fun."

"Shut up. I need to find out if there's any sort of connection. This is the only way."

Ryan wanted to say something else. But he was trying to understand what Seth was going through. He knew it couldn't be an easy thing, so he was just going to let it all go.

They got to the window. Seth looked pointedly at Ryan, who just sighed. Seth proceeded to climb up onto Ryan's shoulders so that he could reach the window.

"If he didn't leave the window open we would have been screwed," Ryan commented as he gave Seth one last push.

"Umph. Yea. That was my head Ryan."

"Sorry. Hurry up in there."

Seth got to his feet. He looked around Dr. Roberts's office, wondering where he should start.

He started jerking the desk drawers open, sifting through the papers. He wasn't even certain what he was looking for. As long as he saw something with the name Thomas Lee on it, he would be all right.

He found some file folders labeled Thomas Lee and he knew that this was something. He dangled it out the window.

"Here, take this."

He walked back over to the desk after making sure Ryan got it and continued searching. He wasn't sure if he was going to find anything more, but he needed to keep looking.

He froze as he heard voices coming from outside the door. One sounded an awful lot like Taylor, talking about getting plastic surgery.

He looked down in the desk drawer, the last one that he had to go through. Sitting at the bottom was one large file folder, once again labeled Thomas Lee. Seth grabbed it, then ran to the window. He threw it outside, then dived out himself.

He realized that this was probably one of the stupider ideas that he had as of late, as his whole body pretty much ached. That didn't stop him from running away from the window to the car, Ryan close behind him.

"Is this all that was there?"

"It was all that I had time to get. I don't know if there's more; he came home. Taylor was trying to distract him but I could tell that she was losing." He peered at the front door, which as opening. "Here she comes now."

Taylor ran to the car, a smug smile on her face. She got inside and didn't say anything right away.

"Well, aren't you going to ask me what happened?"

"I heard you. You were talking about plastic surgery. Yippee," Seth deadpanned.

"I was able to hold him off. Isn't that a good thing."

"Yes, it's a very good thing. Ryan, could you drive faster. I want to get home to read these."

He clutched tightly on the file folders. He didn't want to let go. This was the last chance he had to finding Summer.

* * *

Summer lay on the ground. All she wanted was to go home.

She wanted to see Seth. She wanted to hear his voice, kiss his lips, hold his hand.

She missed everything about her life.

She didn't understand why no one had come to save her yet. She had always thought that Seth would try to save her. She had that thought constantly in her mind.

Now, she was wondering if the opposite had happened.

She had been stuck in this horrible place for what seemed like forever. She wanted to get out. She didn't want to be with these horrible people anymore. She wanted her friends and family.

They apparently, didn't want her.

She wondered if Marissa had made a new best friend. Maybe Seth had found a new girlfriend who he loved even more than her.

She knew that they had all moved on. She had vanished from their lives.

And she didn't think she was ever going to return.

* * *

Seth placed the three file folders he had found on his bed. He didn't know what one to look in first. He wasn't sure what he was going to find or what he should even be looking for.

He opened the one nearest to him, only to find it was filled with a bunch of random, senseless numbers. He wasn't sure what they meant and they probably had meaning to someone.

The next two had the same. The last one, the thickest one of them all, had something that actually meant something.

At the very top was an article from a newspaper. It was dated before he and Summer had even been born. He skimmed it and felt his eyes widen with shock as he got farther through it.

Thomas Lee was in business with Dr. Roberts.

Or at least had been, back then.

And it wasn't a legal business. This whole article, small as it was, discussed how they had been together in some sort of unknown and illegal business.

It seemed like it had all been brushed under the table though, by the way they were summarizing the article.

He didn't understand how someone could be let off of charges for laundering money and everything else that had been done. That didn't seem like it was something that a person should be let off for.

Then again, it was Newport Beach, where people had enough money to pay off the charges.

He dug through the papers, disregarding any from earlier. They were of no help to him at the moment.

Finally, he saw something from more recent months, as recent as a month ago. These weren't just numbers talking about money. They were notes from Thomas Lee himself.

Seth skimmed them to get the gist of what they were saying. It was mostly that Dr. Roberts owed Thomas a large amount of money--and it seemed like it was a large amount that he didn't have.

His heart stopped beating when he looked at the next letter. It was from Dr. Roberts to Thomas, a way for him to get the money.

Dr. Roberts planned to get Summer kidnapped.

He had planned the whole thing.

He had planned the whole kidnapping just to get money. He had traded his daughter in to try and get a ransom to pay them off.

He was so disgusted that he didn't even want to continue reading but he knew he had to.

He closed his eyes as he got to the next letter. He knew the reason that he didn't have his girlfriend back with him.

They had never received the ransom they had asked for. The guy had fallen through. They had taken Summer to a new place, a place where no one would find her.

He read further through the letter. He felt sick to his stomach.

If he didn't get his money by September 21, he was going to have Summer killed.

Seth gulped, looking up at the calendar next to his bed, reading the date.

It was September 14th.


	7. Chapter 7

Seth paced back and forth in his bedroom. He had less than seven days to get to Summer. This was going to be next to impossible, considering he didn't have a clue where she was.

He didn't know what he was going to do. He needed to talk to someone, someone who was going to be able to help him.

He instantly knew who he had to go to. He grabbed the folder and ran down the stairs.

"Dad? Dad where are you?" he didn't have time to frantically search for his father.

"I'm in the kitchen, Seth," he called out.

Seth darted into the kitchen, where Sandy was helping Kirsten make dinner. "Dad, I need to talk to you. It's important."

"All right. Can you handle this all Kirsten?"

"I've got it under control."

Seth followed Sandy out of the kitchen, to his office. He slammed the folder down on the desk.

"What's this?"

"It's a folder filled with Dr. Roberts's dealings with a man named Thomas Lee. It also details Dr. Roberts's plan to kidnap Summer so that he can get money to pay Thomas Lee off. It tells--"

"Hold on, Seth. Let me read this." Sandy grabbed the folder and started to read the papers.

Seth started tapping his foot against the floor impatiently. Every second that was ticking by was coming one second closer to Summer's death. He wanted to just explain everything to his dad, to let him know what was going on.

Sandy looked up from the papers at his son. "Where did you get these?"

"Er…Dr. Roberts's office."

"You stole them from him?"

"Yes. Can you just get on with it? Please. Did you read the part about Summer getting killed in seven days!?"

"Yes, I did. I read it all."

"And…?"

"Let's go."

"Go where? What to pick up food for dinner or something? Dad, we don't have time."

"No, we're going to go see Dr. Roberts."

* * *

Seth paced nervously in front of Dr. Roberts's office. He had been outside for 30 minutes. Sandy had made him stay outside, saying he was too irrational at the moment to talk to him.

The worse part was they were talking in low whispers. He couldn't hear a word they were saying. He had absolutely no clue what was going on at the moment. It was making him go insane.

The door opened and Sandy stepped out, a solemn look on his face. Seth immediately pounced on his father.

"What's going on? Are the police going to arrest his ass?"

Sandy held up his hand. "Let me explain. I told him that you stole all of these things from his office, which he was originally angered by until he saw the contents. He explained everything to me, about how Summer was supposed to be back the following week--"

"That doesn't make it right."

"No, it doesn't. He wanted money though and he was playing a dirty game to get it."

"No freakin duh."

"He's going to call the police and explain everything to them."

"And they're going to go get Summer?"

"This is very delicate, Seth. There's a good chance that Thomas has people following him and that they already know we're looking for her."

"No. That can't happen. We're going to find Summer. I know it. We have to."

"They're going to try their hardest."

"Dammit Dad, they have to find her. They have to find Summer."

"They will. Here," he handed Seth the car keys. "Go home. I don't want you here anymore. You're too irrational with this all."

"Fine." He knew it was senseless to argue with his dad.

"I'll call you."

"Bye," Seth mumbled.

He went outside to the car. He didn't want to leave. He didn't think the police were going to be able to do anything at all.

He didn't know if Summer was going to be saved.

* * *

Seth didn't go to sleep. He had been lying on his bed for two and a half hours, waiting for his dad to come home. It had been nearly eight hours since he had left the Roberts' and there was no phone call or any sign of his dad.

His door opened and he immediately shot up in bed. He turned on the light next to his bed to see Sandy coming into the room.

"What's going on Dad?"

"Get up and get dressed."

"What? Why?"

"Because, we're going somewhere."

"Where are we going?"

"To get Summer."

"What?!"

"They arrested Dr. Roberts. They finally found out where she is and they're going. We're going with them."

"Is this thing usually allowed?" Seth questioned as he threw back his comforter.

"No. I told them it was in their best interest to have us go with them though. I finally convinced them and we're going. The only stipulation is that we have to stay away from the house, on the road and we're not allowed to get out of the car. If they do find her--"

"When."

"--then we're not allowed to see her. I'm doing this for you. I'll meet you in the car."

Seth hurried into his clothes as fast as he possibly could. He had a good feeling. He knew that they were going to find Summer. He just knew it.

And if they didn't, he was going to lose all hope.

--

He watched from the car. They weren't doing anything at the moment. They were waiting. He didn't know what they were waiting for.

"So how did they find out who took Summer?" Seth questioned.

"Dr. Roberts called them and told him he had the ransom. He asked where he could bring it to, and where he could get his daughter. They gave him the address."

"So apparently, Thomas Lee and his minions aren't the brightest group of people."

"Apparently not."

"I wished we could see what was going on," he muttered.

"Don't worry, Seth. We'll know soon enough what happens."

A loud gunshot cut through the silent night. Seth's eyes widened and his hand immediately ent to the door handle.

"Don't Seth," Sandy warned, grabbing his hand.

"But Dad…"

"We don't know what's going on out there. It's dangerous. Just stay in here Seth."

He waited several more minutes, waiting for something more to happen. He didn't see anyone or anything going on, due to the darkness of the night and the large amount of trees.

He waited longer. He felt like he was waiting and waiting.

Finally, he saw a figure in the distance running towards them. Seth sat up straight, immediately nudging his father to roll down the window.

"We found her."

Seth would repeat the words over and over again in his head for the rest of his life. They were the greatest words he had ever heard.

The officer continued talking, continued explaining everything to Sandy, but Seth wasn't listening. He was just letting the words roll around in his head, letting them sink in.

She had been found.


	8. Chapter 8

"When can I see her?"

He felt like these were the only words that were coming out of his mouth nowadays. He was convinced that he could only say phrases "When can I see her?" and "I'll go get the coffee."

It had been a week and a half since Summer's life had been saved. He had not once been able to go and see her. He had stayed day and night in the waiting room.

He barely knew anything of her condition. He knew that she was awake and stable. He had heard what had happened to her.

He wanted to go and find the bastards and punch their faces in. Or have Ryan do it for him. At least he knew that they were in jail now.

Thomas Lee, Dr. Roberts, and the other two men who had assisted the kidnapping were all arrested. It really only gave him small joy that they were locked away.

They had hurt Summer. They had done things to her that she should have never gone through. She went through hell because of what they did to her.

All that mattered to him was that she was okay.

"Not tonight." The doctor gave him a sad smile. "She said she's just not ready yet."

Seth sighed. "Will I ever be able to see her?"

"She's getting released into Julie Cooper's care in about two days. I suggest that you wait until then. Go home and get some rest." She paused. "And that's your girlfriend's doctor's orders. So, please, listen to them."

"All right. I'll be back in the morning."

She shook her head. "Wait until she comes home. It'll be easier. She's a little overwhelmed at the moment. Plus, you're scaring some of the nurses with your constant questions about if you can see her."

"Sorry," he apologized.

"Don't apologize, just go home and get some rest. Wait for her to go home. Maybe then she'll be ready."

Seth nodded his head. He drained the last bit of his coffee, said goodbye to the nurses and doctors he had gotten to know over the past twelve days (even apologizing to some of them for his…frightening actions), and went home.

* * *

"Seth, she's not up right now."

"How did you know it was me, Taylor?" Seth questioned.

"You've called every twenty minutes for the past two hours."

"I just want to see her."

"I know. I want to see her too."

"What do you mean you want to see her too? You live right there with her. So does Marissa. Has Marissa seen her?"

"No. None of us have. Julie is the only one who goes in her room. She doesn't want to see any of us."

He gave a frustrated sigh. "This is getting ridiculous."

"She went through a lot."

"I know…I just…I miss her."

"I know you do. Just give her the space she needs."

"All right. I'll do that."

Seth hung up the phone, trying to not be angry. He shouldn't be angry.

He was more angry with himself over this all. He felt like he should be able to be there for Summer, that he should be there with her, holding her hand. He wasn't and he should be.

But he was just going to have to live with that. He knew that she needed to get better.

* * *

21 days. 504 hours. 30, 240 seconds.

That was how long it was before Seth got to see Summer for the first time since she had been saved.

And even then, he wasn't getting to see her while she was awake. She would have no clue that he was even there. Julie had finally taken pity on him and had told him that he could come to see her at night, when she was knocked out due to the fact that she had to take sleeping pills since she couldn't sleep.

He thought that it was better than not see her at all. He jumped at the chance.

He walked into her familiar bedroom, noting that everything had been cleaned up from the last time he had been there. It was dark, but he knew the room by heart.

He looked at the bed and there she was. Fast asleep, not even knowing that he was there to see her.

He pulled the desk chair up the side of her bed. From the light of the moon, he was able to see her face. It was bruised, but it was still her beautiful face. It pained him to see her like that. He didn't even want to know what the rest of her looked like. It was hard to stomach the fact that someone did this to her.

He grabbed onto her hand, wanting to her to feel his touch, even if she didn't know he was there.

He sat there, staring at her. He wanted to stay there forever. He knew that wasn't possible for the time being, but once she let him back in, he was going to stay.

He was never going to leave her side again.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N-I decided today to just post the end of this story. I really just wanted to get it done and over with, so this is the final chapter. I hope that everyone enjoyed the story. Thanks to those who read and reviewed, especially those who reviewed every single chapter. And special thanks to Meg for her awesome editing gnome skillz.

* * *

Summer sat in her bed, flipping mindlessly through channels. She couldn't find anything that she wanted to watch. Nothing looked any good to her.

She finally settled on watching _What Not To Wear_, even though it wasn't particularly interesting.

Nothing was really interesting to her anymore. She had changed in the past four months and it wasn't something for the better.

She was paranoid to leave her house or to even be alone. She was always flashing back to those terrible moments that she had experienced. Everyone seemed to understand what she was going through.

She was having problems communicating with her friends and family. After learning that her father was responsible for what had happened, she didn't think she could trust anyone anymore.

That wasn't the only reason that she was withdrawn from everyone though. She was afraid of them. She knew it was irrational to be thinking that but she did.

She still had her fears that she had had all those months ago. She thought they were all going to move on. So, she decided she would help that along by cutting them out of her life.

Julie had tried to convince her to at least see Seth. He, after all, was the one who figured out what was going on. Had it not been for him, she could have very well been dead.

She shuddered at this thought. It wasn't something that she wanted to think about. It was not a pleasant thought at all. And even though Seth was responsible for saving her life, she still didn't want to see him. At least not yet.

They all persisted in trying to have her let them in. Nothing was really working though. As hard as they tried she couldn't let them in.

* * *

Summer lay in bed, staring up at her ceiling. This was the first time in four months that she hadn't slept at night. She usually took something to make her sleep but tonight had been a different story. For some reason, she seemed to have misplaced the bottle of pills. She didn't bother searching for it though, as she thought she was over not being able to sleep and that she would fall asleep immediately.

This, of course, was not the case. She laid in bed for hours, and every time she shut her eyes in the dark, she was reminded of that place. She didn't want to think about it at all.

That was how she found herself with all of her lights on, just lying there, staring. It was starting to get a little boring. She didn't honestly foresee herself going to sleep anytime soon, so she grabbed the remote and started channel flipping.

She wasn't really paying attention to what was on the TV, just settled on something that looked like it might help her fall asleep. She watched mindlessly, not thinking about anything but what was on the screen in front of her.

She didn't even hear the crash outside her room at first. When she heard the voice from outside her door and the creaking floor, that's when she knew someone was in her house.

She flashed back to all of those months ago, to the night that she was taken away. She froze in fear. She couldn't believe it was happening again. She hadn't even gotten to really get readjusted to her life. This couldn't be happening.

She found it in her to reach inside the drawer in her bedside table and pulled out her nail file, the closet thing she had that could do any sort of harm. She held it up and waited for whoever it was to come inside.

The door opened and she was ready to lunge at the person. Then, she caught a glance at who it was and was taken completely by surprise.

"Cohen?"

He blinked, looking at her. "You're not supposed to be up."

"Huh?"

"You're…you're usually asleep. You're not."

"Thanks for that information."

This was the first time she had really seen him. Just looking at him, seeing him standing there in front of her, made her realize that she had missed him. A lot.

"Well, then, I suppose you probably want me to go now. Okay. I, uh, I have this for you. For Christmas. I was just going to leave it for you but since you're awake, I suppose, you can, uh, just have it now."

"Wait."

Seth turned and looked at her. "What?"

"Stay."

"Wh-what?"

She wasn't sure if the words had really come out of her mouth. He was here, standing in front of her, and she no longer wanted to be afraid to see everyone. She wanted to try and get over this. Seeing him made her realize she wanted her life to go back to normal. Or, really, as normal as it could be.

"Stay."

"Are you sure?" Seth questioned, looking at her doubtfully.

"Yes. Stay."

He pulled up her desk chair and sat on it. He was unsure of what to do, of what to say, of how to act. It was confusing that she suddenly wanted him there.

As she watched how he was acting, she was suddenly not sure she had made the right choice in telling him to stay. She suddenly felt uncomfortable, considering she hadn't seen him in forever. His life had to have changed in some ways. Maybe he had moved on from her. Maybe he had someone new in his life. She didn't know anything that was going on with him.

"Are you sure you want me to stay?" Seth asked quietly.

"I…no…yes. I don't know anymore."

Seth reached out to grab her hand but she pulled away from him. He looked down at the ground.

"Maybe I should just go," he muttered.

"Please don't."

"But do you actually want me here?" he questioned.

"Cohen, I do," she said. "It's just…"

"I'm trying to understand everything. I have been since you came home. I really have. But you won't let me in. This is the first time you've even made an attempt of any sort."

She was silent. She was trying to pick words that made what she wanted to say to him sound right. She didn't want this to come out the wrong way.

"I think I should go now. Here's your gift."

"I was afraid."

Seth took his hand off the door. He looked at her again. "Afraid of what? Afraid of me?"

"Yes. Kind of. I mean… I went through a hell of a lot--"

"And I know that."

"But…what my dad did to me." She knew the tears were coming out of her eyes. She didn't want to cry but she couldn't help herself. "All that happened to me there…I just…I was afraid. Afraid of everyone. Afraid that you were going to do something to me, afraid that someone was going to act the same way, afraid of everything. Why do you think I've barely left this room and haven't seen anyone?"

Seth took a step closer. "You were really afraid of me?"

She nodded her head, unable to speak due to the sobs that were now shaking her body.

Seth walked over to her, sitting next to her on the bed. He wrapped his arms around her. At first, she flinched at his touch. She settled into his arms, allowing him to hold on to her.

"I won't ever hurt you Summer," he whispered in her ear. "Never ever."

She wanted to believe the words he was telling her but she didn't know if she could. She didn't know how she could even begin to believe that. She had thought that her dad would have never let her be hurt, that he would have always protected her. She had been so wrong about that. He had been the one who hurt her more than anything ever before.

He sat there and held her, whispering those same words over and over to her. He was always going to let her know that he would be there for her, that he wasn't going to let anything happen to her ever again. He was going to protect her for the rest of their lives together, no matter what happened. And he was going to be sure that she knew that.

He knew that her recovering from all that happened was going to take a while. He knew he wasn't going to get the same Summer back that he had before, at least not before. He knew that baby steps were needed. Seth promised himself that he was going to be with her every step of the way. He wasn't going to let her go. Summer would never vanish again.


End file.
